CHAPTER 29

   Gordo was not even really sure what was going on. They were moving the column from one location to the next, almost constantly. The only good news about that was the fact that he had no idea where these locations were anyway. He was pretty sure that if he had to go back to their last position, he could never do it. Gordo had worked at a place where they were supposed to train guys to handle this unreal environment. He should have been about as trained for it as he could get but, now he saw that everything they told the students back in Kansas, was complete crap. In truth there was probably, and quite literally, nothing on Earth that could prepare you for Feyland. Fortunately, someone higher up than Gordo, seemed to have figured that out.
One of their first stops had been to pick up some new people. Gordo saw those guys waiting to board the Bradley's but, in the low light he could not see exactly who they were. When he opened up the turret shield door to let this new guy in, Gordo was a little shocked to find himself face to face with a walking carpet of fur pelts that happened to have pointed ears. Why was Gordo giving up his Lieutenant for an elf? He would be useless in the BC seat and Gordo was not about to hand over the gunners position to him. It basically meant Gordo would be stuck with all of the work in the turret and he was not too happy about it.
The only good point here was that, unlike a good number of humans in the column, this elf actually spoke very good English. He introduced himself as he climbed up in the turret, “Dogrecea Chjolani, Captain of the Olyan-Notae.”
At least Gordo thought the guy was speaking English to start with. He responded to the elf by saying, “I understood Captain.”
What was strange was how easily this elf slid into the seat, almost like he had some experience in a Bradley. He seemed to know where everything was and, that was good, because he also seemed to be in a hurry. Once Chjolani was settled in he looked to Gordo and in a friendly and respectful manner he said, “do not worry Sergeant, I am not in command in here. You retain that. I will help you by spotting targets but, the commands are still yours to give.” So, this elf did know something about armored vehicles. Still, Gordo was a bit confused and it must have been obvious because the elf then told him, “I am your, GPS, I believe you call it.”
A guide? A scout? In Gordo's opinion, anybody that knew where the hell they were going sounded good to him. As he closed the door to the turret, and waited for the dismounts to finish with the resupply, he told his new travel buddy, “in that case I'm going to call you Tom. Cool with that?”
Chjolani actually laughed as he stowed his gear and put on a headset that he brought with him. The crew helmet would not fit his head for obvious reasons. As he did this he told Gordo in an almost dismissive tone, “as you Americans say, this is not my first goat roping. I was with the rangers when they came here. If Tom suits you it does not bother me.”
A knock on the gunners hatch got Gordo's attention. When he popped it he found Snake looking down at him. The First Sergeant tossed Gordo a piece of paper with all kinds of chicken scratches on it. Gordo just shrugged and told Snake, “what the hell is this shit, Top?”
Snake was his usual hostile self and only replied as he vanished from sight, “give it to your GPS, it's where we're going next.”
Gordo had his doubts but, the system seemed to work. Chjolani stayed high in his hatch, and kept and eye on where they were going, giving orders to the driver as they went. Again, he seemed to know what he was doing in an armored vehicle and his English was clear and concise. The elves had armor but, from what Gordo had seen of their little toys, they were pretty substandard and handled horribly. When they reached their rally point, and Chjolani took a break, back inside the turret, Gordo asked him about his experience.
Now the elf sounded a bid condescending when he replied, “why wouldn't I know? We invented armored vehicles. We developed the crew system that even your army uses.”
All Gordo could say to that was, “bullshit.”
The elf acted as if he had expected that reply, “our standard infantry carrier was first manufactured three hundred, of your years, ago. When did the US Army get it's first armor? What, 1917?”
That led Gordo to another observation, “you seem to know a lot about us. I mean, for a bunch of guys that have been living in a different universe till what, three or four years ago, you learn fast.”
That did make Chjolani laugh, “my friend, I am afraid the situation is a lot more complicated than you have been led to believe.”
That was a line of thought that only left Gordo confused and he decided not to go there. He did not have the time to do it anyway. He heard the tell tale sounds of chopper blades and stood up in the turret so he could watch a Blackhawk land right inside their hasty defensive perimeter. The crew chief tossed out a bag and several officers gathered around it. Not long after that, Snake showed up with another set of chicken scratches that Gordo promptly handed off to the elf.
Gordo remembered all those times, when he was back in Kansas, and wishing for a moment like this. Now that it was here, he was starting to think hard about that old saying of, “be careful what you wish for.” The flashes of lights, on the horizon, were spectacular to watch but, Gordo also knew what it meant. The battle was going in earnest and everyone of those flashes probably meant somebody was dying.
The elf was obviously thinking about something else as he watched the light show and listened to the low rumble. He commented over the intercom, “there has been a good deal of that over the last few days. Now that we can see it, I suspect that the real blows are about to start. Be ready.”
A good deal? Gordo had not really seen much of anything. He'd seen antique looking planes, F-16's, A-10's, gunships, choppers, and everything else in their arsenal, flying over his head. He had heard rumors and reports but, since this battle kicked off, he had not seen much of anything else. It all just served to thoroughly confuse him and make him wonder if he would even be able to do his job when he made first contact with the enemy. When he reached their next objective, Gordo was convinced that contact was coming soon. There were engineers waiting for them when they arrived. They had guides for each vehicle and those guys escorted the Bradley's into prepared fighting positions.
Those positions were basically ditches that were deep enough for the entire vehicle to sink beneath the landscape. A small bunker had been dug out in the sides and stocked with extra ammunition. The forward part of the ditch was elevated so that they could pull forward and expose the gun, preferably, just long enough to see a target and shoot it. When that job was done they would back right down into the low part and be hidden once again. That was also just the tip of the iceberg as far as preparations went.
The engineers had set out range stakes, marked with chemlight sticks that could only be seen with night vision. That made it easy for the gunners to adjust the ranges on their sights. Gordo also noted obstacles had been placed in his fields of fire and, if he did not know any better, he was pretty sure they probably mined the best spots to take cover. They also went out of their way to camouflage all of it, and make it seem as much like a natural part of the terrain as they could, all while clearing out obstructions to their line of sight. It was a text book defensive position only, Gordo did not think they were on the defensive. That meant this was an ambush point. It would not be long before he got to test his theory. Gordo saw hand signals being passed from one position to the next. The Orc had arrived.
Gordo remained outside the turret as the first of the enemy showed up. To his surprise, they were not coming directly at him either. They were crossing the kill zone from east to west, mostly in long columns, and moving so fast that they were not paying much attention to their surrounding environment. Gordo had seen Orcs back at the temple but, that had only been through his gun sight. He had certainly never seen this many and, so close. He was so captivated by the sight of these things that he forgot he should be scared. Of course, that did not mean he forgot to get nervous. A good number of the smaller enemy bands were getting pretty close to his position.
“When can we fucking shoot,” Gordo mumbled over the intercom.
Chjolani calmly and quietly replied, “patience human.”
It was not long after that when some Orcs must have tripped off one of the booby traps at an obstacle they were trying to clear. The explosion looked spectacular through the night vision that Gordo was using. The munitions seemed to be one those in the “bouncing betty” family. It shot upwards in a stream of sparkles and detonated a good six meters in the air. When the flash subsided, Gordo saw piles of enemy bodies laying around. Then he saw them firing in every direction. He knew that was his cue.
Gordo dropped back down on his seat, inside the turret, put his hands on the  grips and his eye on the sighting unit. He yelled over the intercom, “driver move forward!” Other positions had already started shooting when Gordo felt his vehicle jerk forward. When it stopped he had his first site picture and no need for anyone to call out targets. There were literally blobs and blobs of them. Gordo lined up his cross hairs and pushed the little red button on his grip. The twenty-five millimeter bushmaster chaingun began pumping out HE rounds. Gordo could see other tracers crossing his fields of fire. He watched those blobs turn into splatters as they were raked from multiple directions. The Orcs tried shooting back but, as Gordo discovered, he need not worry. They were way out of range. The staff blasts were falling pathetically short.
When it was over, Gordo crawled completely out of the turret and stood up so he could get the best vantage. The elf joined him and seemed to be equally as speechless. Then Chjolani mumbled something in his own language before Gordo requested a translation. The elf thought about it and then said, “I did not think such a thing was even possible. We crushed them, and they barely touched us.”
That brought a laugh from Gordo who was now feeling pretty cocky at this point. He slapped the elf on the arm and said, “all in a days work, man.”